A nice consideration for 9a (Houston) if you are tired of seeing your b. oldhamii suffer through our recent winters. They will come back but it feel like torture.

Caldwell's Nursery has a number of 10 plus year old clumps of b textilis that are amazing. I just bought six and trading out my oldhamii for something a bit more reliable for Houston. If it is anything like b. textilis gracilis it can easily handle high 20s without dropping many leaves.

The new clums have an almost blue color, similar to but far less intense than bambusa chungii. It also has a nice, clean clum with leaves on mature clums faily high up...

Easy, attractive and relatively common bamboo species to cultivate. It has 1" relatively thin walled culms up to 40' that arch nicely. It is relatively slow growing so usually not a serious invasion problem (not a runner, either). It has been used to weaving (the culms are thin-walled enough that they can be split and woven), but most collect it for its landscape appeal.